New $4.3 Billion Paramount Bid Puts Future of CBS Sports in the Balance

The long-term structure of CBS Sports’ parent company is once more in question as a new bid has emerged for control of Paramount Global.

Six weeks after National Amusements, the Shari Redstone family company that controls Paramount, agreed to a complex merger deal with Skydance Media worth more than $8 billion, veteran media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. has submitted a separate, $4.3 billion bid to take over the company. 

The new offer is within a 45-day “go-shop” period contained within the Skydance deal that allows Paramount’s board of directors to seek alternate bids—a window that ends Wednesday. Bronfman’s pitch is that his offer is superior to the Skydance proposal, is much simpler, and is ultimately not as dilutive to Paramount shareholders compared to the contemplated Paramount-Skydance merger agreement.

Bronfman’s offer also includes a $400 million breakup fee that would be paid to the David Ellison–led Skydance if Paramount accepts. A special committee of Paramount’s board is expected to meet Wednesday to evaluate the Bronfman bid. The executive has raised $5.5 billion, according to multiple reports, on the expectation of ultimately raising his offer.

“Our proposal eliminates the risks, uncertainties and costs of combining Paramount with Skydance,” Bronfman wrote in a letter to Charles Phillips, chair of Paramount’s special committee of directors. “We believe Paramount is most valuable as a standalone business.”

Steady As She Goes

CBS Sports, for its part, is attempting to stay out of the corporate fray and focus on continuing to deliver audiences far larger than anything else that Paramount offers. A key part of that is the network’s NFL rights, the ratings of which CBS Sports aims to increase this season—even after the across-the-board viewership growth recorded in 2023.

“We’re still in this ‘go-shop’ window … and there’s going to be a year of regulatory review [in any deal]. So we have to go through all those things,” CBS Sports president and CEO David Berson said last week. “But as it pertains to sports, even on the call announcing the [initial] deal, you heard from Skydance and RedBird [Capital Partners] how they value sports, how they believe in sports. They love our portfolio. They love our strategy. They love our team. So we’ll have to see how everything plays out, but it’s exciting to see the interest they have, the appreciation they have, for sports.”

Bronfman is also the executive chairman of FuboTV, which is locked in a bitter legal fight against Venu Sports. That streaming bundle, currently prohibited making its public debut, is backed by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery—companies that Bronfman would be competing directly against should he gain control of Paramount. 

Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, of which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is an investor in Front Office Sports.